Collectors of things most always want to get the first of that thing for their
collection. Then all the related firsts. Upper left is the very first
commercial transistor radio in the world, the Regency TR-1 (1954, USA).
Above center is the
first transistor radio made in Japan, the Sony TR-55* (1955). It’s the
first
product ever to bear the now-ubiquitous trademark “Sony.” You’ve
heard of it.

Other first transistor radios shown above are the Raytheon T-100
(1955, USA) and the Zenith Royal 500.
And what’s
better
than
having
these
seminal
pocket
radios?
Having
them
in their
original boxes!

If I have a “main” collection, this is it. Transistor
radios.
While sorely tempted to fill these pages with dozens of stunning
examples, I have to restrain myself. This site is about all my
collections and transistor radios will just have to fit in and behave
themselves.

To those who know me in the transistor collecting community,
this may seem absurd. But I have devoted a considerable amount of time
and energy photographing and documenting these little gems in my books.
Readers
interested in seeing and learning more about transistor radios are
invited to look at those
efforts here.

Transistor radios appeal for their design/styling and for
their
historical significance. The 1954 appearance of the TR-1 was just seven
years after the invention of the
transistor itself in 1947. The transistor radio was
the first mass-market product of any kind to be designed from inception
as a purely transistor device, exploring and paving the way for a
future of space travel, personal computers,
and cell phones—all of which would be impossible without
the transistor, arguably the most significant invention of the 20th
Century.

In the middle above left is a rare purple Emerson 849 stacked
on top of a Magnavox AM-2.
Both are US-made and from 1955. Mid right
is the RCA 7-BT-9J (1955, USA)
on top of the Philco T-7
(1956, USA).
Above left is the Motorola 56T1
(1955, USA) and the General Electric
677 (1955, USA). All the radios on this page are the first
transistor
radios of their respective brands with two exceptions; the Emerson and
Raytheon models are the first pocket
transistor radios of those brands. These two companies had earlier in
1955 made larger portable-size all-transistor radios, but it’s the
pocket-size models that had the most appeal then, as now, and that’s
what’s featured
here.